#86 Wilder Girls

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

Wilder Girls was marketed as the feminist version of 'Lord of the Flies' which was one of my favourite books growing up so naturally i pre-ordered it immediately. The book is set in a boarding school, 'Raxter School for Girls' on a remote island. Three best friends, Hetty, Byatt and Reese are living in quarantine after 'The Tox' has hit the island affecting the girls in numerous ways and turning them into mutants basically. The Tox has claimed the lives of over half the school leaving around 60 peoples and a handful of adults left. The Navy and other organisations have been dropping off supplies weekly to the island to ensure the survival of the girls whilst they research a cure.

The main strengths of this novel was definitely the friendship groups and the lengths they will go to to protect each other. I also enjoyed the diversity and the LGBT+ rep as this was well done without being over the top. I cant remember the last time i read a book with virtually no male characters whatsoever but it made for a very interesting read and i must say i enjoyed it very much. Ive seen this book shelved on Goodreads as 'horror' and i really wanted it to freak me out more but it didnt, i dont know if that is done to me not being squeamish or if the mutations werent as focused on, i felt like there could have been a lot more detail into how it affected the girls individually.

A few things that annoyed me were as follows: what kind of name is Byatt? it annoyed me probably more than it should have but i was very fixated on how stupid of a name it was. I felt like there could have been more mystery elements included, a whole group of kids stuck on an island full of mutated animals and only 2 things happened really that increased the stakes, the author could have played on this a lot more like more false alarms etc to keep the reader on the edge of their seats.

I really liked Hetty as a character, her loyalty to Byatt made for a really exhilarating read and i also enjoyed Byatts chapters after she was mysteriously taken, i would have liked a few more of these chapters as i felt there was only 2 chapters every so often and the rest was following Hetty and Reese. I also think the romance could have been more explored, dont get me wrong i did think it was well done but it sort of came out of nowhere really. It was really refreshing to read a book that didnt have any magical or fantasy elements to it that was also YA so bravo on originality.

All in all this was a really enjoyable read and was such a page turner, i couldnt put it down and everytime i did i couldnt wait to pick it back up again. The ending was a little strange as its very open ended so im not sure if this is a stand alone with an ambiguous ending or if the author is leaving it open for a possible continuation, we will see.

TW: mentions of self harm and animal death